Record number of Chinese Canadians on election ballot
A record number of Chinese Canadian candidates are vying for a seat in a Richmond riding that boasts the largest ethnic Chinese population in B.C.
Richmond Centre has never been won by a candidate of Chinese decent, and few have entered the race in the riding’s history. But on May 14, at least four candidates from the Chinese community will be on the ballot: Teresa Wat for the Liberals, Frank Huang for the NDP, Lawrence Chen for the Conservatives and Gary Law, who is running as an independent.
In the last provincial election, in 2009, Kang Chen was the only Chinese name on the ballot. He won just 2.3 per cent of the vote, while Liberal Rob Howard easily won with 61.5 per cent support.
The only other Chinese candidate to contest the riding was Sheila Page in 1991, a year Liberal Doug Symons won.
“You never know, but it looks like a Chinese Canadian will finally represent this riding,” said Wat, a 63-year-old Burnaby resident recruited by the Liberals.
“The fact that I’m involved, I hope I’ll set a good example to even the younger new Canadians. Hopefully I can really generate more people to come out and vote, and I have confidence the voting rate among Chinese Canadians in my riding will be higher than the last term.”
Voter turnout in Richmond Centre was the lowest in B.C. in 2009, with just 40.1 per cent of eligible voters casting ballots. Full article
Tags: bc, election, ethnic, immigrant, richmond
Loading ...